I'm so glad things are looking up, askye.

Coming up on my fifth anniversary at work. I just got a brochure of choices for a gift. Do I want the the tension mounted black diamond ring or the cordless drill/driver? Or the wireless speakers? Or the Le Creuset 9.5 inch au gratin dish? Why only offer a man's putter? Definitely no on the Rubbermaid kitchen tools set - really, spatulas and measuring cups, hell no - gimme something that actually costs.

Nora, I'm sorry you have such an ass chappeau to deal with.

Or the Le Creuset 9.5 inch au gratin dish?

Le Creuset is good stuff, if you think you'll use that specific piece.

If it were the cast iron stuff, I'd say go for the Le Creuset.

I have a couple of those Le Crueset ceramic pans and I use them a ton.

The Le Creuset is stoneware, and it seems a bit on the small side.

Ugh, Nora. I wish a painful and embarassing rash upon him!

askye, YAY YOU! And I love hearing about it -- when you've been working hard on mental problems and things start to get better, it just. so. AMAZING. And you want to shout it to the world because it's invisible -- it's not like people are like, "Hey that really bad injury you had is really coming along; you're making amazing progress, WOO!"

WS, I'm going through a similar struggle myself - whether my 10-yr gift will be a very pretty blue topaz ring or a drill (also pretty, in its own way).

Also yay, askye! You sound so great!

Dang, my 10 year gift was piece of parchment that said I'd been there 10 years.

Do I want the the tension mounted black diamond ring or the cordless drill/driver?

This is hilarious.

billytea, why are you teaching your newborn infant to ride a bicycle? That seems reckless, no? Also, correction: Ryan is not six years old; he is six months old.

askye, I'm glad to read you're doing better. Best wishes to you.

I do. Many who had such perfect, easy pregnancies. It was the best time of their lives, blah, blah, blah. Or at least that is what they like to post on facebook or tell people after the fact. I have a distant relative at the moment who is constantly posting pictures of all this fabulous food she's eating with the hashtag pregnancy problems. Meanwhile, I keep reminding anyone who is still listening of the list of foods I would like brought to me in the hospital after ltc arrives.

The lovely sj, all I wanted, my whole life, is to be a mother. I expected to love, but ended up hating pregnancy. I didn't have the challenges you've had, but my pregnancies were far from the best times of my life. Most of that was due to my (then undiagnosed) anxiety, but not all of it.

I had implantation bleeding with my first. I had increasing "morning" sickness with my second, and nearly all day sickness with my third. I lost weight with #2, because of bronchitis (for which I was still on antibiotics, when she was born). I had to have a glucose challenge test with #3, because the normal gestational diabetes test came back wrong (sorry, Buffy).

I think, on Facebook, the issue isn't so much that people are trying to "sanitize" their lives, so much as they're just trying to be positive. I wish I could have been the sort of woman who reveled in her much-wanted pregnancies, but the truth is, they were trying enough, that even though all three of my babies were wanted and planned for, they cemented in my mind that gestation should always be a woman's choice. I wouldn't have gone through what I went through, for anyone other than the three wonderful people who still make my days.

I don't want to get all, "It gets better," but mostly it does, except for when it gets harder. Here's the thing, though, it does get more rewarding.

I'm so sorry this has been so hard on you. When is ltc due? (Am I wrong for wishing your baby's board name was #ltp -- as in, I'm a little teapot, short and stout, here is my handle...?) Regardless, take it easy, mama. You're doing a great job, growing a human.

Teppy? Why can't you drive on Ativan? What is your dosage? Does it just hit you too hard, or is it doctor's orders? I was cautioned about driving while taking Ativan, until I knew how it hit me, but once I realized how it hit me, I drove (with doctor's consent) on my 0.5mg dosage.

Also, I'm really sorry for all your travels. I know how draining that could be.

And yes, it is frigging weird that I just pop in twice a year, but I've been thinking about all of you, especially today, during which it seems poor Joss was hassled off of Twitter, apparently for some Avengers: Age Of Ultron sins which I cannot yet judge, because I haven't seen the film.

People online can be so mean, yo, but not you people -- never you people.